What's New
Getting It Right: Security, Peace and Development for Afghan Women
May 2009: FNAW announces the release of its policy briefing paper, "Getting It Right: Security, Peace and Development for Afghan Women". Read our recommendations for the best ways of supporting the women of Afghanistan: click here.
Visit the PROPOSAL PIPELINE at FNAW!
The Proposal Pipeline is a list of projects or programs benefiting women or girls in Afghanistan which are currently seeking funding. If you are a donor looking to connect with new partners in Afghanistan, browse this list: click here.
Gender inequalities on the ladder of success.
FNAW partners in the Unsung Heroes of Afghanistan project
FNAW partners in the Unsung Heroes of Afghanistan project, to help recognize the peacebuilding contributions of Afghan activists in Afghanistan.
Supporting Women's Visibility in Public Life
FNAW's 2008 Campaign for A Strategic Funding Direction
Background:
Each year, FNAW works with Afghan activists and its members to identify areas or sectors where there is a general lack of funding support. These are sectors or themes which offer strategic opportunity to empower women, but which may not be on the radar of many donor organizations. In our role of trying to connect need with the necessary resources to address need, we spend one year mobilizing support and awareness for the identified under-served theme or issue. In 2008, Supporting Women's Visibility in Public Life is FNAW's strategic theme. To help arm donors and organizations with more information on this issue, organizations working on this issue, and what they can do to help, we are pleased to launch a special webpage dedicated to this topic.
Click here to find out about what is happening in Afghanistan to give women opportunities to participate in the cultural, recreational, heritage, and artistic life of their country, and to make space for themselves to gain visibility in public life.
FNAW member of the month
August 2009: Afghan Pride Association of Afghanistan
Promoting sales and finding markets for dry fruits and nuts produced by Afghan women and providing an independent centre for women farmers in districts and remote areas of Afghanistan
Overview: The Afghan Pride Association Afghan Pride Association is an independent, non political, nonprofit women’s organization that focuses on the sales of dry fruits and nuts produced by Afghan women. Established in 2005, Afghan Pride functions as an independent centre for women farmers in districts and remote areas of Afghanistan and provides a platform to take their product from production to market to sale, while facilitating the introduction of new methods of production, packing and marketing.
As a result of decades of war, many Afghan women have lost their husbands, children and other family members who were traditionally responsible for producing an income. This has forced many women, not previously members of the workforce, to become the breadwinners for their families. Women make up fifty percent of Afghan society and Afghan Pride believes that if women are not encouraged to enter the workforce, then the Afghan economy will suffer greatly.
Thus, the main goal of Afghan Pride is to create opportunities for women to generate an income. Afghan Pride does this by helping women farmers right from the early stages of production to finding markets for their products, to facilitating and supporting their direct participation in business activities and programs. This in turn will lead to women being able to care for their families and lead to a better and economically sound life in what has been a traditional male dominant society.
Currently, Afghan Pride has 150 members in Di Yahya village of Deh Sabz district and some 100 members in Parwan, Heart and Mazar Sharif provinces and has established a strong network of women throughout the country.
Recently, the Afghan Pride Association has signed two contracts in 2009, the first with the GPFA organization in order to provide training and technical support for first party activities in Afghanistan. The second contract is between Hand in Hand Afghanistan and their partners to improve rural livelihoods throughout the country and to link the Kholm farmer women production of almonds to the national and international markets.
Contact Info:
Contact Person and title: Mariam Mubeen Sediqqi - Director
E-mail: Mariam_sadat1@yahoo.com
Telephone Number: 093 + 7000 28 494
Mailing Address:
Website: not yet
Past Members of the Month Profiles
- July 2009 - The Alliance for International Women's Rights
- August 2008 - Afghan Canadian Community Center
- June 2008 - The Women and Children's Legal Research Foundation (WCLRF)
- April 2008 - The Centre for Contemporary Arts of Afghanistan
- March 2008 - Afghanistan Libre
- February 2008 - Women to the World
- December 2007 - Meet the National Islamic Society of Afghan Youth
Why a Funder’s Network for Afghan Women?
As a conflict zone in the centre of the international war against terror, Afghanistan plays host to a large foreign presence. Yet, six years after the fall of the Taliban, change has come slow for Afghan women. Bilateral development funding has not always been effective, the promised amounts did not always materialize, and the trickle into the hands of women and girls has been minute. New grant-makers are needed in Afghanistan. FNAW is your entry point into supporting projects that help Afghan women and girls effectively. We help you make strategic grants that matter by giving you access to advice, networks and tools. Find out more.
About Us
The Funders' Network for Afghan Women (FNAW) is a coalition of dedicated foundations and granting organizations, as well as advocates, policy-makers and other agencies funding Afghan women's groups. FNAW members have committed to working together to better understand and address the needs of grassroots civil society organizations in Afghanistan that support women and children. Members share project assessments, security information, experiences, and feedback from Afghan partners to prioritize funding, expand on success stories, and build the capacity of women leaders in Afghanistan.
The Network addresses common problems faced by grantees, with an emphasis on sustainability, advocacy and capacity-building. FNAW provides grantees with technical assistance, and helps them better establish their own networks and partnerships. It is FNAW's belief that a coalition of funders can have a real, measurable policy impact on those with the power to bring meaningful change to the lives of Afghan women and girls. To this end, advocacy is key among FNAW's priorities.
Women's funds and other organizations concerned with the future of Afghanistan have long recognized the need to improve donor coordination and information-sharing to ensure that the goal of building a lasting civic democratic society in Afghanistan has a viable chance. They also recognized that the key to a democratic and progressive society is improvement for women and children in a host of areas. The difficulty donors and potential grant-seekers face in getting information from and about each other has led to a growing tendency for all donations to “settle” amongst one or two well-known grant-seekers, not necessarily best meeting the pressing needs on the ground.
To address this problem, FNAW was launched at an initiating meeting at the annual Women's Funding Network 2004 conference held in Toronto, Canada, by major donors and policy advocates who came together to create a network that could be a forum for information- sharing and collaboration to reach new grantees, seek co-funding opportunities, and build the institutional capacities of Afghan NGOs. The network includes funders, grant-makers and advocates who, among other activities, are working to improve the living standards of Afghans, and especially, to empower Afghan women and girls through direct support to women's projects and programmes.
Today FNAW is a thriving network, meeting every month. Through collaboration, coordination and information-sharing, ideas are being shared generously and frequently, thereby improving the reach, capacity and efficiency of each member organization, and ultimately, better meeting the needs of beneficiaries in Afghanistan.